“Shit,” he said. “We’ve got company.”
“More soldiers?”
“No.”
Zaun came running down the stairs and into the apartment. He looked at Jack. “I see you’ve been brought up to speed on what’s happening out there.”
Jack let the shade fall back into place. “Those idiots brought the undead down on us. What were they thinking?”
“They were hoping for a quick snatch and grab,” Maria answered. “They probably figured we’d put up a fight, firing our weapons. The dead would’ve shown up either way, so why not just come at us hard.”
“How many are out there?” Jack asked.
“At least thirty,” Zaun began, “but more are coming down the street, from both directions.”
A noise came from the hall. Jack looked over to see a female zombie, a gore-filled hole where its left eye socket had been, reach for Zaun.
Zaun spun around, grabbed the zombie’s wrist and flipped it into the room. Jack stepped up and put a bullet into its head.
“They’re coming inside.” Maria ran to the door.
Zaun raised his machine gun and blasted another zombie as it entered the hallway. Right behind it was another. As each one fell, another took its place.
Maria was firing now too.
Jack ran over and joined her in the foyer. Undead after undead filed into the entrance only to be mowed down by the hail of bullets.
With the undead pushed back, the group made their way to the second floor.
Maria and Zaun gathered the supplies from the apartment while Jack remained at the top of the stairs, shooting the zombies as they made their way inside and up the steps. When they were finished, they ran up to the third floor, then climbed the ladder to the roof. The undead were slow and probably not even up to the second floor yet.
Jack shut the hatch, breathing the frigid air deep into his lungs. Looking around, there was nothing to see but the roofs of attached buildings, as well as the buildings beyond. He tugged his coat tighter around himself as a chill crept over him, the wind cascading over his sweat-lined body.
“Take a look at this,” Zaun said, standing near the edge of the roof.
Jack and Maria hurried over.
A huge crowd of undead took up the area in front of the building, with more coming from both ends of the street.
“We can’t do this,” Jack said.
“Do what?” Zaun asked.
“Survive in the city. There are too many of the damn things. We won’t last long.”
“What are you saying?” Maria asked.
“That we go back to the operations center; the warehouse. Back to the tunnel and take the left fork. See where it leads.”
Zaun laughed, shaking his head. “Are you crazy?”
“No,” Maria said, “Jack’s right. We won’t last long out here. We took out a number of Reynolds’ men. Can’t be many more, and who knows, maybe the rest are back at the bunker.”
“The other tunnel might lead to another part of Brooklyn or Queens,” Zaun insisted.
“True,” Maria said. “But I think it’s our best chance.”
Zaun held up his hands in surrender. “All right. I go where you guys go.”
Telling the others to wait where they were, Jack headed to the rear of the roof. Looking down, he saw that the back alley was void of undead, save two at the far end. He thought about the possibility of climbing down the fire escape and making a run for the operations center. It wasn’t a long distance and they could easily outrun the undead. The only problem would be if they encountered more of Reynolds’ men at the warehouse. If they couldn’t get into the building-Reynolds’ men holding them off-they’d have to turn around and face the horde.
Jack walked back to the others.
“What’s up?” Zaun asked.
“Just a second.”
He stared down the block at the operations center disguised as a warehouse. The place looked liked the rest of the area, abandoned, but that didn’t mean Reynolds’ men weren’t inside. It was too cold to remain on the roof while keeping an eye on the place. It could be hours before he saw anyone, if there was even anyone to see. He was tired and was sure the others were too.
“Was just thinking,” he finally said.
“And?” Zaun asked.
“We need sleep and we won’t get any up here.”
“Well, we can’t go back down,” Zaun said.
“Looks like a few of the other buildings have hatches on them,” Maria said.
“Let’s see if we get lucky and one or two aren’t locked,” Zaun said.
“It’s worth a try,” Jack agreed.
They headed to the closest hatch, finding it not only locked, but seeming to be impenetrable, short of blowing it open with dynamite. The next two hatches were the same.
“That’s that,” Zaun said. “Things are like tank lids.”
They would need to wait out the undead, hope the things eventually wandered off like they did when Jack went to rescue Zaun.
They went back to the hatch that led into the apartment they’d been in. Jack bent down and opened it a crack. Peeking in, he didn’t see any undead. He opened it all the way and got a better look. The floor was clear. Pulling his head out, he closed the hatch door.
“Floor’s empty,” he said. “I think they’re either still working their way up or for some reason they’re just remaining on the other floors. We can stay in the rear apartment. Wait for the undead to leave, and use the fire escape to get down.”
“How do you know they’ll leave?” Maria asked.
Jack told her about the alley and how it had filled with undead, but only a few days later it had emptied.
“You don’t know if that will happen here. That was an alley. Those things only had to walk one way and they were out.”
“We can’t remain up here,” he pointed out. “It’s too cold. We won’t be able to sleep.”
“What about the other buildings’ fire escapes?” Maria asked.
Jack hadn’t even thought about that. Heading over to the rear of the roof and looking over the edge, he saw that only two of the eight fire escapes had ladders leading to the roof, the building he and the others were on and the last building, the one at the end of the alley.
“We can try that one,” Jack said, pointing.
Jack climbed down while the others waited up top. One of the apartment’s rear windows was covered with steel bars. The other had a security gate on the inside, the lock only accessible from within, designed to keep intruders out, but easy for the people inside to escape in the event a fire broke out. He thought about smashing the glass, seeing if the gate was unlocked, but the noise would definitely attract any undead inside the building. It was probably a better idea to go back to the original building and stay in 3R. Spending time here, bashing in a window, creating a ton of noise was risky. And he had no idea what was on the other side of the window or in the building.
Heading back up, he told the others what he saw and why he thought going back to 3R was the best option.
The others agreed.
Back at the hatch, Jack explained his plan.
“I’ll go down,” he began, “ head into 3R, open the security gate on the fire escape window, and let you guys in. We’ve got enough food to last a few days at least, and as long as we’re quiet, the dead won’t know we’re there.”
“And not finding any food,” Zaun said, “they’ll leave the building and the street outside, allowing us to get to the warehouse without much trouble.”
Jack removed his backpack, taking only the Sig Sauer and. 45. Using either would ensure his plans going to shit, but he was taking them nonetheless.
“Meet you guys at the window in a few,” he said, then opened the hatch.
Seeing the floor was still clear, he climbed down the ladder, closing the hatch behind him.
Making it to the floor, he walked passed 3F, its vault-like door taunting him with its promise of security. 3R was open. He had no idea if any undead had come up the stairs and wandered inside. The floor might not be as safe as he’d originally contemplated. This might have been a job for Zaun now that he thought about it, but since he was already on the floor, he was going to see it through.